A Very Merry Christmas…

many of my Christmas memories begin with our annual celebration at my Grandpa & Joanne’s house.  from the time i was a little girl, that event has marked the beginning of the holidays for me.  when i was young, we used to go to their house on Christmas Eve, followed by a midnight service at church and looking for Santa’s sleigh on the way home, before waking up to a living room full of presents the next day.

as expected, things change as you get older.  i don’t remember what year it was exactly, but there was one year where everyone had plans of their own on Christmas Eve.  some were going out of town…others to visit their other family members.  so, we moved this Christmas at Grandpa’s thing to the week before Christmas.  as a kid, i didn’t care much, because this started a new tradition of going to Disneyland on Christmas Eve with my family!  those were some awesome memories…and my favorite time to go to Disneyland is still when all of the Christmas decorations are up =)

but back to this year’s celebration at Grandpa & Joanne’s…we had such an amazing time.  the whole family was there.  there was lots of good food.  and tons of sugar, too!

we hung out and caught up.

we played music and danced. (well, one of us danced!)

we opened presents.

this used to be a pretty civilized activity, by the way, where people would take turns and you would get to see what everyone else was opening.  not any more.  it’s absolute chaos! i kind of miss the old days =)

we usually wrap up the evening by playing a game of hearts or poker, but this year my cousin, Erik, introduced us to a new game. (sorry, Erik…for some reason this was the only picture i got of you..lol)

he describes it best by calling it “Telephone Pictionary.”  let’s just say, i cannot remember the last time i laughed so hard.  you know, the kind of laughing where you can barely breathe.  and then you start crying.  sounds fun right?!  maybe i’ll do a post with the rules soon and you can try it for yourself.  it’s definitely my new favorite game.

here are a few more photos from the day…love this moment.

a little DJ Hero action…

i call this series “Matt Ruining a Perfectly Good Picture” =)

i was going to crop him out of that top one, but it just made me laugh so hard!

and this one is called “The Many Faces of Nikki”…

this one, “My Little Uncle, the Bartender”…

good times, good times =)

well, starting now, i am officially taking the next few days off!  woohoo!  i hope all of you are too!  i want to thank you again for all of your love and support this year.  i can honestly say that 2010 has been one of the best years ever!  and you are a huge part of that.  so thank you, thank you, thank you.

i hope you have a wonderful holiday!

xoxo

jess